the news could provide a boost to president barack obama. u.s. labor department officials say the u.s. jobless rate dropped to 7.8% in september. the figure is the lowest since obama took office in january 2009. employers added 114,000 nonfarm jobs, matching the expectations of analysts. the nonfarm sector is considered particularly sensitive to economic trends. 44,000 jobs were added in the health care sector. manufacturing employment edged down, shedding 16,000 jobs. >>> policymakers at japan's central bank unanimously decided to maintain current monetary policy. this comes after the rare attendance by the economic and fiscal policy minister. seiji maehara has been advocating aggressive monetary easing to get the economy out of deflation. after the two-day meeting through friday, the policymakers shared the view that personal spending remains steady as the jobs situation is improving. but they agreed that output and exports by manufacturers, one of the main drivers of the japanese economy, are relatively weak due to a slowdown in the chinese an